Indian engineer, three others 'kidnapped' in Afghanistan
Kabul | November 20, 2005 5:15:07 PM IST

An Indian engineer has been reported missing in Afghanistan along with his two guards and a driver, but a Taliban spokesman Sunday claimed the militants had kidnapped them.

According to official Mohammad Hashim, the district chief of Khash Rod, the engineer belonging to the Indian government-run Border Roads Organisation along with the other three men had got lost Saturday in Afghanistan's southern province of Nimruz.

"Yesterday in Bakwah area, an Indian engineer and his two bodyguards and the driver got lost when they were driving from Khash Rod district to Zaranj, the provincial capital of Nimruz," Mohammad Hashim told Xinhua.

"Investigations are on, and we will try to find them as soon as possible," he added. Taliban's spokesperson Qari Yusuf Ahmadi said the Taliban had kidnapped the four and kept them in a safe place. The engineer was involved in road construction work in Nimruz.

The Taliban, which was ousted from power late 2001, has many times kidnapped Indian and Turkish construction workers and engineers in southern provinces. A Briton working for a road construction project was kidnapped and killed by Taliban militants in September in the western Farah province.

More than 1,500 people, a majority of them Taliban militants, have been killed in the Taliban-linked militancy since the beginning of this year. --Xinhuarn (IANS)

2 killed in car explosion in Southern Afghanistan

KABUL, Nov. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Two civilians were killed and an Army commander was injured in a car explosion in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province Saturday morning, a local official said.

"Today in Sangin district of Helmand, a car explosion left two persons in the car killed and a commander named Payanda Mohammad Khan injured," Haji Mohammad Wali, spokesperson of the provincial governor of Helmand told Xinhua. "The investigation is still going on, and no one has been arrested so far," he added.

At the same time, Taliban's spokesperson Qari Yusuf Ahmadi claimed the responsibility for the car explosion and said the two killed were the commander's bodyguards.

Helmand, together with other three southern provinces Kandahar,Uruzgan and Zabul, have been known as the heartland of Taliban, and become the hotspot of the Taliban-linked attacks.

Taliban, vowed to continue Jihad or holy war until the withdrawal of all the US-led foreign troops from Afghanistan, intensified its attacks against Afghan and foreign troops. Over 1,500 people with majority of them being Taliban fighters have been killed in the Taliban-led insurgency since the beginning of this year. Enditem

28 Taliban, other militants surrender to Afghan govt
Ispoline - Pakistan

KHOST: Twenty-eight Taliban and militants surrendered to authorities in insurgency-hit Afghanistan on Saturday and renounced any anti-government activities, an intelligence official said.

The 28 had returned to Afghanistan from exile in neighbouring Pakistan and gave themselves up in Gardez, city’s head of intelligence Ghulam Nabi Salim told AFP.

They included 11 former members of the Taliban government and 12 members of the Hezb-e-Islami faction led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, he said. Five former fighters for commander Jalaludin Haqani also surrendered, he added.

"These 28 people were living in exile in Pakistan and now they ... have declared they will not take part in anti-government activities," he said. President Hamid Karzai has offered an amnesty to members of the ousted Taliban movement and Islamic militias "whose hands are not stained with innocent people’s blood".

Separately, three people were killed in southern Afghanistan on Saturday when a bomb blew up a car belonging to a former warlord who had laid down his arms, a provincial official said.

Militants loyal to the Taliban claimed responsibility for the roadside blast in southern Helmand province. The unidentified commander was wounded, Helmand spokesman Mohammad Wali said. The former warlord had been part of a UN disarmament programme launched after the Taliban government was removed.

"We blew up the vehicle," purported Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told reporters in a telephone call, accusing the one-time warlord of being too close to the government.

A policeman and a suspected drug runner were killed in a gun battle in the province late on Friday after police tried to hold up a five-vehicle convoy of smugglers, provincial governor Shir Mohammad told AFP. The Taliban also said on Saturday that they had carried out a suicide attack against a convoy of the US forces in Afghanistan.

A Taliban spokesman said a local militant called Najibullah rammed a vehicle packed with explosive into the convoy in Girishk district of Helmand province. Qari Mohammad Yousuf told Reuters by satellite phone from an undisclosed location: "We do not know about casualties of Americans, but we know that Najibullah is martyred."

Afghan posting ‘too dangerous’ for Dutch army

MICHAEL SMITH – THE LONDON TIMES 11/20/05
BRITAIN could be forced to increase the number of troops it sends to Afghanistan next spring because Dutch MPs think it is “too dangerous” to deploy their own soldiers there.

The Netherlands, which already has about 625 troops in Afghanistan, was due to provide a further force of 1,000 to be based in Uruzgan province, which stretches from the centre towards the south of the country.

But a report by the Dutch military intelligence and security service has warned of the extreme danger of operating in the area, which sources close to the country’s cabinet said “can’t be ignored”.

A Dutch withdrawal would place more of the burden on the British, who are taking over command of Nato operations next May. British forces were originally due to provide the vast bulk of the new force in southern Afghanistan. That fell apart when plans for an early withdrawal from Iraq were shelved, forcing the British to co-opt Australian and Canadian forces as well as the Dutch.

Afghan security officials have confirmed eyewitness accounts of Arab and Chechen terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda offering money to Afghans in the south to kill or kidnap the officials or foreigners.

There have also been reports that Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorists are being trained by “Arab jihadis” in techniques developed against US and British troops in Iraq.

The American force currently operating in southern Afghanistan has sought to combine nation-building — focused on two provincial reconstruction teams based in Kandahar and at Lashkar Gah, in Helmand province — with highly aggressive counter-terrorist operations.

Concern that these operations were too hostile, negating the positive effects of the reconstruction teams, has been expressed by Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai. There have been demands within Nato, in particular from France and Germany, for the force to concentrate on nation-building.

The Dutch intelligence report highlights the serious contradiction inherent in concentrating on nation- building in an area where Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces remain active.

The British-led operation in the south, spearheaded by 3 Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, will be part of an expansion of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to cover the whole of Afghanistan.

It coincides with Britain’s assumption of command of ISAF when the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, led by Major-General David Richards, moves into Kabul. Normally based at Rheindahlen in Germany, the multinational force is 1,300 strong, including approximately 300 British troops.

About 90 American troops have been killed in southern Afghanistan in the past year amid a sharp increase in violence.

Sources at 16 Air Assault Brigade, which will provide a command element for the British paratroopers, said they are prepared for “robust and aggressive” operations against terrorists and will be backed up by 10 Apache attack helicopters and six RAF Harrier ground attack aircraft.

British defence sources admitted that while the Nato troops might not necessarily go hunting down Al-Qaeda or Taliban forces, a role American forces will retain, they will have to be “extremely robust”, particularly if they intend to destroy the poppy crop. Afghanistan grows more than 90% of the world’s production.

General Sir Mike Walker, chief of defence staff, said in a recent interview with The Sunday Times that eradicating the narcotics industry was by far the biggest problem the coalition faced.

“The truth of the matter is that until alternative livelihoods are available . . . you’re not going to make a great deal of progress,” Walker said.

 Police seized two tons of opium loaded into five Toyota Land Cruisers after a gun battle with drug traffickers in southern Afghanistan that killed one policeman and wounded two others, officials said yesterday. A Portuguese peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded when their vehicle hit a landmine on a road near Kabul.

Additional reporting: Tim Albone, Kabul and Claudio Franco, eastern Afghanistan

Implications of Afghanistan’s Saarc entry - By Abdullah Al Madani, Special to Gulf News 11/20/05

Afghanistan was recently approved as the eighth member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), a largely toothless body set up in 1985 which includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

The decision, taken last week at the organisation’s 13th summit meeting in Dhaka, implies several things. First, it is recognition that Afghanistan is closer - geographically, historically and culturally - to the Indian subcontinent than any other region, and that issues which have long prevented it from becoming part of the grouping (such as its civil war, instability, chaos, and brutal regimes) no longer exist.

Second, it is an indication that Saarc members are concerned about Afghanistan’s development and integration with its South Asian neighbours, something without which regional peace and stability cannot be enhanced.

Kabul’s bid for membership of Saarc, on the other hand, was motivated by similar concerns. By being a member, Afghanistan can benefit from the various Saarc development programmes, as well as from any collective anti-terrorism measures, and consequently promote its own security.

And under the existing free trade agreement (Safta) for the South Asian region, it may have a better chance to negotiate a land route to India via Pakistan and a seaport facility in the latter.

Islamabad has so far denied Afghanistan and India overland access to each other, saying the policy is linked to the broad matrix of India-Pakistan relations.

Third, it is a reflection of the emerging understanding between India and Pakistan, Saarc’s major pillars. Unlike in previous meetings when hostility and distrust between the two countries had paralysed the organisation and prevented agreement on substantial issues, in the Dhaka meeting both backed the issue of Afghanistan’s membership, albeit from different perspectives.

Islamabad’s backing was probably aimed at making Kabul’s trade policy becoming Pakistan-centric and rebuilding the influence it once had in Afghanistan, while New Delhi’s backing stemmed from its policy of supporting the post-Taliban government in Kabul and probably from its view of Afghanistan as a key link to energy rich Central Asia.

The same could be said about another issue that also took centrestage at both the Dhaka ministerial and summit meetings - China’s observer/dialogue partner status with Saarc.

The issue was proposed by Pakistan on the pretext that giving Beijing such a status would enhance Saarc’s profile and influence internationally, while the covert reason must have been bringing in China as a counter-weight in the organisation to neutralise Indian domination.

Despite its discomfiture on the issue, given its perceived policy of blocking China’s keenness to nose its way into the subcontinent’s affairs, New Delhi backed it.

The move was said to be aimed at avoiding a misunderstanding with the Chinese, which might fall in the interest of other regional players, and maintaining Sino-Indian economic cooperation which has grown in recent years.

Fourth, it is proof that whenever Saarc’s two most powerful members are in agreement over an issue, objections by smaller members, if any, can be contained or resolved. During the course of the summit meeting, Bangladesh, as well as Nepal, were lukewarm in their response to the issue of Afghanistan’s admission.

The argument was that the Saarc charter required to be amended first, as there was no provision in it regarding an expansion of the grouping beyond the seven founding members.

The real reason behind the two nations’ reservations, however, was their fears that the entry of Afghanistan would increase India’s balance of power in the regional body, given the post-Taliban government’s warm ties with the Indians.

Their positions were also attributed to fears of a possible reduction of their shares in the Saarc development assistance once impoverished and backward Afghanistan became a member.

On China’s request to have a sort of association with Saarc, however, there was no opposition from Dhaka or Kathmandu. In fact, the Nepalese pushed the issue forward as a price for their no-objection over Afghanistan’s membership.

Such a stand must be viewed within Nepalese King Gyanendra’s new policy of leaning on the Chinese for moral and military support against the Maoist insurgents and pro-democracy movement in his country.

It can also be viewed as a sign of Kathmandu’s anger and dissatisfaction with New Delhi’s pressure for the restoration of democracy in the Himalayan kingdom.

Dr Abdullah Al Madani is an academic researcher and lecturer on Asian affairs.

Out of Taliban shackles, Afghan women fly high
Kabul | November 20, 2005 11:15:09 AM IST

Banned from even taking up jobs by the Taliban, women in Afghanistan have a come a long way - flying even fighter planes and assuming an increasing role in their country's army.

Captains Latifa and Lailoma, who fly Mi-8 helicopters and Mig-17 fixed wing aircraft, are among 147 women serving the Afghan National Army (ANA). The two women pilots, who graduated from the erstwhile Kabul Air University and have 14 years of experience in flying, are among the 56 others selected for the Air Corps of ANA.

"When I wear my uniform and I'm flying the helicopter my only goal is to help the people of Afghanistan and establish peace and security," Lailoma said.

Latifa said: "Hopefully, in the near future, women will be allowed to apply and compete for positions in these institutions which will open more opportunities for education, training and career development.
"Part of my responsibility is to make the path clear for the future and for women who have the desire to become pilots in ANA," she said, beaming with confidence.

During the Taliban rule that ended with the US military intervention in 2001, women in Afghanistan were prevented from taking jobs, forced to stay indoors until they were veiled, and prevented from going to even schools and colleges.

Now women are assuming an increasing role in the security of the country through the Accessions Programme, which enables the nomination of qualified women for ANA positions.

A board consisting of officials from the ministry of defence, the ANA general staff and the office of the chief of personnel reviews and determines the eligibility of each woman based on age, education and military experience from prior service in the Afghan Militia Forces.

As the number of female officers in the ANA steadily increases, so does the number of female non-commissioned officers (NCOs). Today women are serving in medical, logistics and communications positions, mostly in and around Kabul.

Last month ANA's Medical Command got 43 personnel - all women. The 32 officers and 11 NCOs were posted in various locations, including three regional 100-bed ANA hospitals, the medical academy and the hospital annexe in Kabul.

At present ANA is not recruiting women for service as entry-level soldiers. Training women in basic military skills will require additional resources, facilities and programs.

"In principle we concur with women serving in ANA. But the service of women must be discussed and planned to determine the career fields and branches in which they may serve based on Afghan culture and norms and compatible with religious beliefs," said Maj. Gen. Homayun Fawzi, the assistant minister of defence for personnel and education. Two of ANA's training institutions, the National Military Academy of Afghanistan and the Air Corps Flight School, currently permit only men.

Afghan Army Lt. Col. Noria, the director of Family Support Programmes at the ANA General Staff's Religious and Cultural Affairs Directorate, agrees that women can contribute a lot to ANA. "Women in the ANA are creative, committed and intelligent, they are important and qualitative to teamwork, which is essential to mission success", she said. (IANS)

New Era Of Press Freedom In Afghanistan

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 (Bernama, Malaysia) -- Afghanistan, once ruled by the reclusive hardline Taliban regime, is now enjoying a new era of press freedom and freedom of speech unprecedented in the history of the war-ravaged country.

Its Deputy Information Minister, S. Agha Sancharanki, said that this progress was due to the strong commitment of President Hamid Karzai's government to press freedom and democratisation.

He said that currently there were some 300 publications comprising newspapers and magazines -- dailies, weeklies and monthlies. These include four government-run newspapers, one of which, the Kabul Times, is in English.

On the broadcasting side, there are 50 private radio stations, 12 private television stations and a state-run TV station and radio station.

"In the post-Taliban era, the situation has changed dramatically...from a very close society to a very open one," Sancharanki told Bernama in an interview on the sidelines of the Senior Officials Meeting of the Sixth Conference of the Ministers of Information of Non-Aligned Countries (Cominac VI) here.

Under the rule of the Taliban, which was ousted by the US-led coalition in late 2001, television and radio and all forms of entertainment were banned and those found to own a TV or radio would be severely punished. Women and girls were banned from going to school and joining the workforce.

The ouster of the Taliban was followed with the process of democracy -- the first direct presidential election late last year and the first parliamentary and provincial elections in 30 years last September.

Afghanistan was ranked 125th out of 166 countries this year in the annual Press Freedom index published last month by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, an international media watch group. Last year it ranked 97th.

Describing the flourishing of so many media as "extraordinary", Sancharanki said the Afghan government felt that the press and media played a prominent role in establishing a modern society and disseminating news and information to its 26 million population of various ethnicities such as Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara and Uzbek and who speak languages like Persian (Dari), Pashtu and Turkish besides 30 minor languages.

He said the government was keen to see a smaller media, maybe in the range of 30 or 40 publications, with a stronger footing and well-established as they would be more effective.

The growing Internet connection with clubs set up in many areas of the landlocked and mountainous country had enabled the masses to have access to news and information, he said.

Sancharanki said the government had proposed a media commission, among others, to overcome any shortfalls in the industry and to protect the rights of journalists in their course of their duty.

He said the government would like to see the international community, including Malaysia, assist in the development of the media in Afghanistan like providing training to Afghan print and broadcast journalists. He said the state-run Bakhtar News Agency was also keen to establish links with the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama).

Afghans Head for the Mall
A glittering complex housing a hotel and nearly 100 expensive shops is a source of wonder for Kabul residents. By Mohammad Jawad Sharifzada in Kabul (ARR No. 195, 18-Nov-05) Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Hamaduddin, 24, stands outside the capital’s latest newest attraction, the Kabul City Centre shopping mall. He is dressed in traditional Afghan pirhan-tunbon – baggy grey trousers and a long shirt, topped with an off-white waistcoat and a bedraggled patu or shawl draped around his shoulders. And looks a bit bewildered by the glittering array of shops behind the emerald-green glass of the mall entrance.

Asked why he was not going inside, Hamaduddin said in surprise, “You mean they let us in there?” Kabul City Centre, which opened its doors in September, is a centrepiece in the capital’s rapid construction process. The mall boasts 97 shops selling everything from watches to shoes and cosmetics, at prices well beyond the reach of most Afghans.

For some Kabul residents more accustomed to doing their shopping in makeshift shops in rusty freight containers, the sight of such ostentatious consumption is upsetting. “God is great. He gives so much to some people that they’re able to build places like this, while I don’t even have enough to eat,” sighed Hamaduddin.

The new shopping centre is in a 10-storey building – a skyscraper by Kabul’s modest standards - in the central Shar-e-Naw district. Inside an eye-catching mirrored glass exterior, the first four floors are given over to shops, with the 130-room Safi Landmark hotel occupying the upper six stories. The hotel boasts such amenities as a health club, conference rooms and cable television.

The mall itself has three all-glass lifts and four escalators, quite a sight for Kabul residents who often have no running water or electricity at home. “I guided one old woman into the lift,” recalled lift maintenance man Shirullah. “She thought it was a corridor, and tried to get out the other side. I explained it to her, and she was just so happy we had something like this in our country.”

People’s lack of familiarity with technology can cause other problems as well. “Last week a woman tried to go down the up escalator, and fell,” said Shirullah. “She broke one of the steps.”

Mohammad Daud Sharifi, the mall’s manager, said the property was owned by Haji Abdul Qudus Safi who purchased the land 15 years ago and began construction of the 20 million US dollar facility three years ago.

The hotel, which is being managed under a one-year contract by a firm from the United Arab Emirates, is staffed by 100 Indian nationals and 150 Afghans.

The average price of a hotel room in 200 dollars a night, although Sharifi said cheaper rates are sometimes available, depending on a customer’s bargaining skills.

“Sometimes a customer comes to us, and we don’t want to lose him or her,” he said. Both hotel guests and shoppers tend to be foreigners, and the rest are among the few relatively well-heeled Afghans who work with international organisations or have access to money from abroad.

Fareshta, a doctor, had a shopping bag full of cosmetics, and looked thrilled with her purchases as well as with the mall itself. She praised the polite and helpful sales staff as well as the facilities. "In my opinion, this is a source of honour for Afghans," added Fareshta. Even those who cannot afford to buy appear to enjoy window-shopping.

"I lived in Iran and Pakistan for 10 years, but I never saw such a beautiful shopping mall there," said Fateh Shah, who had come with two of his friends to have a look around. “The prices are high and we can’t afford to buy things, but I feel comfortable here.”

But not everyone feels equally at home here. Some Kabul residents argue that rather than spending money building fancy shops, investors should think about the vast army of unemployed in Afghanistan.

"These buildings are good, but first of all factories should be built so that the unemployment level falls and people have jobs," said Nasrullah, a government employee.

So far, window-shoppers appear to outnumber actual customers, which is a cause for concern to some shop managers. "We pay 50 dollars per Square metre, so my monthly rent comes to 700 dollars. I can’t make enough to pay this,” said Sayed Shoaib, who runs a shop selling perfumes.

In the city’s still unsettled atmosphere, such a commercial undertaking is a risky venture. A staff of 40 security guards works around the clock to provide protection. Most are interior ministry police, although the mall’s owner pays their salaries.

Still, the management thinks it’s worth the risk. "There is a lack of security in the country, but we’re hoping no incidents will occur. It is a risk for us, but we have accepted it," said Sharifi. Mohammad Jawad Sharifzada is an IWPR reporter in Kabul.

Young Afghans Seek Escapist Lifestyle

Buffeted by their country’s turbulent transition, many young people now seem more interested in popular culture than traditional values. By Salima Ghafari in Kabul (ARR No. 195, 18-Nov-05) Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Jamshid, 19, is the picture of cool. Standing beside his motorcycle in a busy shopping district in central Kabul, he sports dark glasses, jeans and a gold chain. He left school after 10th grade to pursue a more hedonistic lifestyle - which he may find difficult, since he is unemployed.

“We are tired after all the years of war,” he said, shrugging. “Now we just want to do things that make us feel good. Education cannot heal our wounds.”

Three decades of war, mass population displacements, and the Taleban’s five-year war on all forms of entertainment have caused Afghanistan’s young people to rebel against over-serious pursuits, say analysts. They want instant returns on any investment of time and money.

“Most young people today think that all they need to know is English and computer skills,” said Abdul Haq, a lecturer in psychology at Kabul University. “That way they can find well-paid jobs in foreign organisations, and they don’t see any need for further study.”

This is a normal reaction to the period of upheaval the country has endured, according to Abdul Haq. In the past, before war tore the country apart, the university library would have been full of young people studying political science, history and other academic disciplines.

Now, he says, most young people prefer to spend their time watching films, television, and music videos. Even those who do continue their studies find it difficult to concentrate, given the easy access to a pop culture that still has novelty value.

“Under the Taleban, I used to read all the time,” said a female student at Kabul’s medical institute, who did not want to be named. “But now I cannot even keep up with my university studies. Television keeps me too busy.”

Critics say the situation is getting worse every day, with the result that young Afghans are becoming strangers to their own culture while they take in the latest Bollywood movies and Iranian music.

Abdul Ghafoor Liwal, an independent writer and researcher, points the finger at the media, which he accuses of steering youth in the wrong direction, all in the name of freedom.

"I don’t know whether press freedom means showing people dancing almost naked, or what," he said. The breakdown of the family, also a legacy of war, comes in for its share of the blame as well. “It is the responsibility of families to encourage youth to study,” said Liwal. “The government has to make educational programmes a priority.”

It may be too soon to expect Afghanistan’s young people to buckle down to their studies, says Professor Aziz Ahmad Rahmand, chairman of the modern history department at Kabul University. The security situation is still too unsettled and the future too uncertain to expect them to commit to an education. “This is not yet an atmosphere in which young people can study,” he said.

Another factor is that the infrastructure needed for a viable education system does not yet exist, says Nasrullah Stanikzai, the deputy minister of information, culture, and tourism.

“Afghanistan is just now emerging from years of crisis,” he said. “Youth want to escape into cheap movies, television and narcotics. They don’t have the support – there are no good libraries for them, they are poor. It’s all understandable.”

Some of the responsibility lies with the family as well as with the schools and universities, said Stanikzai. He believes the education ministry should establish a network of libraries across the country, “Donor countries and non-governmental organisations have to realise that a school without a library is not a school at all.”

But library staff say young people are not interesting in using the facilities that are currently available.Abdul Hamid Nabizada, deputy head of the Kabul department of public libraries, which oversees the city library as well as a few small collections across the country, says few young people now visit apart from those who need to do research for their university studies.

"When a young person watches films until midnight, how is he or she supposed to study the next day?” he asked. According to Nabizada, before the civil warfare of the Nineties, his library issued up to 5,000 membership cards, but now they have only 2,700 cardholders, 500 of whom are local residents and the rest school and university students.

Engineer Raihana Popalzai, 37, head of the Kabul University Library, grumbles about the lack of interest even among the university’s 10,000 students. She said that approximately 1,000 students come to the library regularly, but even they are focused on pursuits other than study. “Young people try to learn English so they can abuse the internet, getting on to [porn] sites or engaging in chats,” she said. “Their improper use of the library means they have less energy to use for their studies.”

Kabul’s booksellers are also feeling the change. Mullah Mohammad Sherin, who runs a bookstore in central Kabul, has been in the business for 44 years. "I have been selling books since I was a child,” he said. “We had a good income until the fall of Najibullah’s government [in 1992]. Young people would come in asking for various books. Instead of selling novels and history books, I used to lend them out for money, because that gave me more income.”

But now young people are fixated on dictionaries and English language courses, he said. The rest of their time - and money - is spent on pirate videos. “Young people are watching films rather than reading books,” he concluded.

Mohammad Hassan, who has had a shop in the Pul-e-Bagh-e-Umomi area of Kabul for 20 years, says business has fallen away sharply in recent years. "I only sell two or three books in a whole day, and they are bought by students on private English and computer courses. The others are just not in demand,” he said.

Officials at the newly created youth ministry also have concerns about the trends affecting young people, but is so far unprepared to take any specific actions.

“The youth ministry just started up in 2005,” said Mohammad Sediq Oria, an advisor to the ministry. “We need some time to develop a strategy and put our programme into practice.”

He said the ministry is planning to set up libraries as well as internet centres and sports clubs, and will work with other government institutions to explore the apparent alienation of Afghanistan’s youth.

Amina, 17, is in the ninth grade at the Bibi Sarwari Sangari school. In traditional schoolgirl garb of black dress and white headscarf, she was rushing to class and at first did not want to be interviewed. But she did admit that studying was not her primary interest. "I don’t have enough time for studying,” she said. “I like to read fashion magazines and watch television.” Salima Ghafari is an IWPR reporter in Kabul.

Riley doctors fix heart defect for Afghan girl, 6
By Rick Callahan Associated Press

Associated Press

Basira Jan, 6, from Afghanistan, underwent corrective heart surgery in Indianapolis in September.

INDIANAPOLIS – The frail girl with haunted eyes arrived at a U.S. military base near Kabul weighing scarcely 35 pounds, sluggish and prone to alarming episodes of bluish skin if she so much as walked briskly.

Born with a malformed heart that left her body starved of oxygen, Basira Jan’s future amid Afghanistan’s unforgiving poverty seemed bleak – until Indiana National Guardsmen touched by her plight vowed to get the youngster help.

“I wanted to make a difference, to make a little piece of the world better because we were there,” said Indiana Guardsman Capt. Michael Roscoe, 33, a physician’s assistant who examined the 6-year-old last spring when her father brought her to Camp Phoenix, where American soldiers train the Afghan army.

That meeting set in motion a journey that took Basira from a dusty mud-and-stone village that Roscoe described as something out of the Bible to Indianapolis, where doctors would save her life.

Basira is one of about a dozen Afghan and Iraqi children in the past two years to travel to American cities such as Tampa, Albuquerque and Indianapolis for medical treatment unavailable in their homelands, said Lt. Col. Donald Cole, director of patient movement for the U.S. Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base near Belleville, Ill.

Three of them, including Basira, began their journeys with the help of the Indianapolis-based 76th Infantry Brigade, which served at Camp Phoenix before being replaced this summer by a Florida National Guard unit.

Getting an Afghan or Iraqi child to an American hospital is no easy task. Diplomatic and military hurdles must be crossed, stateside hospitals must be willing to perform surgery for free and Rotary Clubs and other groups must be enlisted to help.

The secretary of defense must approve a request to transport a child on U.S. military aircraft. State Department and immigration officials then get involved, as does the German government because flights out of Iraq or Afghanistan typically pass through Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Basira’s journey began with help from a local chapter of Gift of Life International Inc., a non-profit that works through Rotary Clubs.

Chairman Rob Donno said the Great Neck, N.Y.-based group has arranged heart surgeries for more than 4,000 children from more than 60 nations since 1974. He said one of its goals in helping ailing Third World children is to promote world peace. “The bottom line is, ‘If you help my child, my daughter or my son, you save ” Donno said. their life, how could you be my enemy?’

Doctors at Riley Hospital for Children agreed to donate their services, and on Sept. 2, Basira underwent corrective heart surgery that restored the normal movement of oxygen-enriched blood through her body. Since then, she has transformed into a ball of energy, racing around wildly on a bike and leading her father, whom she once begged to carry her, on half-mile walks.

“She’s been riding her bike like a mad woman. She’s really doing quite good,” said Dr. Mark Turrentine, who performed Basira’s surgery. Basira and her father, Ghulam Ghaus, 46, pass their days at a Ronald McDonald House set along a quiet, tree-lined street near the hospital.

Basira has overnighted several times with the family of Capt. Steve Fippen, one of the Guardsmen who helped arrange her trip to Indiana. Fippen’s 5-year-old daughter, Emily, has become fast friends with Basira. Despite the language barrier, they share a common love of dolls and video games. Fippen said the Florida Guardsmen who replaced their Indiana counterparts this summer have been bringing food to Basira’s mother and seven siblings.

Ghaus said Indianapolis, with its modern buildings and green landscape, “looks like a paradise” compared with his dusty village. There, fields of rice and cotton sometimes conceal land mines left from the era of Soviet occupation. Ghaus worked for years as a mine-clearer, but he quit this spring after several co-workers were killed in explosions. He said he’s grateful his daughter has been given a chance for a healthy life. He and Basira plan to return to Afghanistan by early December.

Zia Urrahman, a 5-year-old Afghan boy who charmed Fort Wayne during his summer-long visit for burn surgery, is now under the medical care of the Florida National Guard’s 53rd Brigade at Camp Phoenix in Kabul and has been reunited with his mother and siblings.The soldiers and doctors who’ve reached out to Basira and others know there are no guaranteed happy endings. This year, a 14-month-old Afghan boy also brought to Riley thanks to Indiana Guardsmen underwent surgery to correct a heart condition similar to Basira’s.

Qudrat Wardak’s transformation into a chubby, smiling child delighted Riley staff, who were devastated when he inexplicably died just two days after returning home in April. Turrentine, who also performed Qudrat’s heart surgery, fears the impoverished conditions the boy returned to – an unheated home, lack of clean water, the threat of disease – somehow caused his death.

Quake-hit Pakistan exceeds aid target - By Zeeshan Haider / November 19, 2005

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The world boosted aid pledges for quake-devastated Pakistan to $5.8 billion on Saturday after the United Nations warned there could be a second disaster as survivors face the bitter Himalayan winter.

The sum exceeds Pakistan's target of $5.2 billion for recovery and reconstruction after the earthquake which killed more than 73,000 and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

"The results were better than expected ... we have received pledges worth $5.827 billion," Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told a news conference after an international donors meeting in Islamabad.

Pakistan had been about $3 billion short of what it needed to rebuild houses, schools, hospitals, water and energy supplies, roads and civic administration.

Aziz said $3.9 billion of the aid pledged was soft loans and $1.9 billion was grants. The new pledges came after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that survivors would die unless relief funds came soon.

"The pitiless Himalayan winter is almost upon us and growing more and more severe every week," Annan told the conference which opened with harrowing video of quake damage and survivors.

"We must sustain our efforts to keep people as healthy and as strong as possible until we can rebuild," he told representatives from about 50 donor countries.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf praised old rival India for its help and appealed to it to seize the opportunity the quake had given the two countries to resolve their dispute over Kashmir, the region hit hardest by the quake. "Let us together solve the Kashmir dispute once and for all," Musharraf said.

The neighbors have agreed to open five points on their heavily militarized, disputed border in Kashmir to help relief efforts and allow divided families to meet.

Two dozen Kashmiris from the Indian side walked across the heavily militarized frontier on Saturday - the first time in nearly 60 years people had been allowed to cross on foot.

The October 8 quake left 500,000 homeless and affected 3.3 million in Pakistani Kashmir and North West Frontier Province. About 1,300 people were killed on the Indian side of Kashmir.

Rich nations and multilateral lenders pledged the lion's share of the extra aid, but even impoverished countries such as Afghanistan and Bangladesh made contributions. Thanking donors, Musharraf said it was now the turn of Pakistanis, at home and abroad, to ensure aid needs were fulfilled.

"I know that we are going to spend about $6 billion," he said. "Now that is a shortfall which we will make through government efforts and this is where I feel the people of Pakistan ... need to come forward."

Musharraf told the conference of a "lost generation," referring to how the quake destroyed schools, entombing classrooms. The quake killed an estimated 35,000 children. A total of 400,000 homes and over 10,000 schools need to be rebuilt, he said.

Aid agencies say the relief effort is more daunting than for Asia's tsunami. Helicopters are the only way to reach many survivors living high in the mountains.

The Asian Development Bank and World Bank each pledged about $1 billion in financial aid, mostly in soft loans, and the Islamic Development Bank doubled its financial aid to about $500 million for rebuilding infrastructure.

"The scale of the catastrophe is stunning," Asian Development Bank chief Haruhiko Kuroda told the conference.

The World Bank said Pakistan's poverty-reduction plan would be at risk without more aid. China and Saudi Arabia together announced soft loans and grants worth more than $600 million.

The United States added another $200 million in cash, a targeted $100 million in private donations and said the value of its military relief support had climbed to $110 million.

Britain gave another 70 million pounds, and the European Union pledged $110 million in addition to about $200 million pledged individually by its member nations.

Japan said several hundred million dollar yen-loans would be made available for projects and China offered to help set up a national network of seismic centers to warn of future quakes.

Musharraf proposed naming new villages after the donors that paid for their construction, and called on cities round the world to adopt a district in the earthquake zone. (Additional reporting by Simon Cameron-Moore)

[Disclaimer: The content of this news bulletin does not necessarily reflect the view or policy of the Afghan Government, unless specifically stated as such. The collection of articles and commentaries from Afghan and international news sources is provided for informational purposes, and accuracy of the news is the responsibility of the original source.]